Triptych
by jennytork
Summary: This is a story in my "Forever" AU, where the metacrisis turned Donna into a Time Lady after "The End of Time" and she used some regeneration energy to save the Doctor though it rendered him ginger and more human, needing to sleep more, for example. A distress call leads them to UNIT, an altered Benton, and two more Doctors! What now?
1. Holiday, Interrupted

Donna stood alone in the control room, turning dials and flipping switches. The best part about being a Time Lady, she decided, definitely had to be being able to pilot the TARDIS by herself.

She lay her palm on the console and spoke aloud. "The Doctor and I need to celebrate, girl. Any suggestions?"

The TARDIS – well, the only real word that described the sound she made was "purred". Lists of planets and times appeared on the screen.

Donna smiled. "Thank you." She petted the console like a cat. "I'll let him pick the place."

With the flick of a couple of switches, a hard copy printout appeared. She took the papers, rapped a knuckle affectionately on the console, and left the control room.

 **DOCTOR WHO FOREVER AU DOCTOR WHO**

The Doctor's room was beautifully but simply decorated. He was in bed, and at first all Donna could see was the shock of newly-ginger hair, sticking up more than ever as it was pressed into the pillow.

Then, as if sensing he was no longer alone, the Doctor rolled over and there were the freckles and the slowly opening brown eyes. "...Donna?"

She smiled and sat on the bed, gently running a hand over his forehead. "I'm here."

"Something wrong?" He sat up. "We're still in the Vortex..."

"M-hm. Nothing's wrong. I just wanted to ask you something."

"Oh." And the yawn that came at that moment seemed to surprise him. "Well."

Donna laughed. "Don't break your jaw, there!"

He glared at her and ran a hand through his hair, only succeeding in further discheveling the ginger strands. "So what is it?"

She handed him the papers. "Where would you like to go on holiday?"

He frowned. "On holiday?" He studied them. "Oh, this is a good world... and this is a great time on Earth...ooh London in the late sixties! There! You'd so love the way things went then!"

"London in the late sixties it is!" she said, standing up and heading toward the control room.

She'd just made it to the door of his bedroom when the lights turned red and an alarm began to blare.

"Distress call!" the Doctor gasped, rocketing out of bed and grabbing his robe. "Let's go see what that's about!"

"I'll see what it's about!" Donna snapped. "You get dressed! Can't have us running for our lives and you in your pyjamas!"

She closed the door on a face flaming as red as his hair.

 **DOCTOR WHO FOREVER AU DOCTOR WHO**

The Doctor arrived in the control room to find Donna standing by the communicator that he'd not seen used in nearly three regenerations. "Repeating, this is Donna Noble, please repeat your message!"

"I repeat," the voice said. "I am trying to find the Doctor! I don't care who you are, you're not who I need!"

The Doctor's eyes widened. "That's Brigadier Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart... tell him who you are."

She nodded. "I repeat, I am Donna Noble. You have reached the TARDIS. I am the Doctor's Co-"

"Assistant," he corrected.

"—Assistant." She beamed at him. "So please tell me why you're ringing!"

There was a moment of silence, then the voice from the past replied, his voice full of tension. "I need to find another version of the Doctor, because mine is in a coma and something has gone horribly wrong with Sergant Benton!"

The Doctor's shoulders stiffened. "Brigadier," he said, depressing the mic, "are you telling me you're in the TARDIS using this equipment without my other self's knowledge?"

"Who's that?"

"I'm the Doctor, Brigadier. And I need you to keep talking to me." He nodded at Donna.

She nodded back and moved to another panel, quickly triangulating when and where in time the transmission was coming from. When she looked up, she reported, "UNIT HQ – outside London. 1972."

The Doctor nodded. "We have a lock on you, Brigadier. I suggest you step away from the console – this could get messy."


	2. Two And A Half Doctors

"Messy?" Donna squeaked. "What do you mean, messy?"

"I'm going to materialise the TARDIS right over – my TARDIS. The control rooms will blur and fuse."

"When?"

"Right now."

The walls suddenly went white. Some of the coral growth vanished. And a stunned-looking man in a military uniform stood gaping at them. "...what the bloody hell..." he breathed.

"Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart," the Doctor grinned, "meet Donna Noble."

She took his hand and inclined her head in greeting. "Brigadier."

He muttered a "Charmed, I'm sure," but his eyes were on the ginger-haired man. "Bloody hell," he breathed. "Doctor?"

"Yup," he said, popping the "p".

"Oh, my stars, you've done it again..." he murmured.

"Done what again?" Donna asked.

"Regenerated," the Doctor replied. "He's known me since my second body."

She whistled.

The Brigadier shook his head. "Regardless, you're here. Miss Grant has been going out of her mind-"

"Jo Grant," the Doctor explained to Donna. "My former assistant. So this is my third body we're dealing with."

She nodded in complete understanding.

The Brigadier shook his head again. "But we can't very well have Doctor John Smith looking over Doctor John Smith..."

Donna pulled out some psychic paper. "Who does that say he is, Brigadier?"

"'Doctor Jonathan Noble'," the Brigadier read, then nodded. "Good, if you pose as marrieds, it will be-"

"Brother and sister," Donna corrected.

"Yes," the Brigadier said slowly, studying them. "With that matching hair, that would be even better of a cover than marrieds. All right, then! Onward and outward!"

"Allons-y!" the Doctor laughed, and opened the doors.

 **DOCTOR WHO FOREVER AU DOCTOR WHO**

"Is that him?" Donna asked, even as the Doctor grabbed her hand in reflex.

"That's him," he breathed. "That's me."

They watched from the observation window as the nurse finished washing and gently brushed the salt-and-pepper waves into a semblance of order. The covers were pulled to his waist, as the bath had just finished and he wasn't dressed in scrubs yet. The face was lined, restless even in sleep, but the physique revealed was that of a much younger man – and a powerfully strong one, at that.

"How tall iis/i he?" Donna breathed.

"Two inches taller than I am now," the Doctor told her. "Six-three. What happened to him?" he asked the Brigadier.

"There was an explosion inside the TARDIS," the Brigadier said. "We don't know what yet. He and Benton were alone in there. Benton came out, carrying him, and he's been like that ever since."

"Brainwave activity?"

"Depressed, but present," a new voice said and the Doctor smiled as a man with curly black hair walked in. "Doctor Harry Sullivan," he introduced himself. "At your service."

"I'm Donna Noble," she introduced herself. "This is my brother, Doctor Jonathan Noble."

"We were called in as consultants," the Doctor said. "We're familiar with – his unique anatomy."

And Harry's mouth opened in a silent "Ah!" of comprehension. "Well, welcome aboard, Doctors Noble! As I said, both hearts are beating normally. Body temperature is absolutely normal for him. But the brainwaves are depressed, though they are holding steady for now."

Donna's head tilted. "For now?"

"Aye, they've been fluctuating. Sometimes nearly normal for him, sometimes down to basic functions only. Right now they're somewhere in between, and he's holding steady." He nodded. "And if you'll excuse me, I need to go check on him."

"Certainly." As Harry and the Brigadier left them alone, the Doctor grinned at Donna. "He was a companion for awhile, as well. Both of them were."

"So we weren't all female," Donna teased, and his grin grew.

Then it faded as he looked back at himself, now being gently dressed in light blue scrubs. "I just can't figure it out," he said. "What happened to him and what Benton has to do with it..."

"Well, well," a gravely voice from behind them made them both spin to see a tall figure with auburn hair and a strong cleft in his chin leaning against the doorframe, arms and ankles lazily crossed. He was dressed in blue jeans and a white button-down shirt with a crushed red velvet smoking jacket over it.

"Benton," the Doctor whispered, and Donna nodded.

Benton nodded, pushing off the doorframe and striding into the room. "I must say," he said in a voice liberally laced with amusement, "that of all the people I expected to find in here, a future version of myself was the last one I figured I'd see."

And the Doctor's jaw slammed open. "...what?" he squeaked.


	3. What is going on?

"Oh, don't look so surprised," Benton laughed. "Ah, but you don't recognise me in here. That's okay." He took Donna's hand and kissed the back of it. "And you- a Time Lady that I don't recognise. I'm intrigued."

Donna was frowning deeply. She stared at Benton, but her question was aimed at the Doctor. "You said this was Benton. But he talks like he's you."

The Doctor's fingers closed around Benton's wrist, and he received an indulgent smile in return. But the Doctor's reply was for Donna. "Body temperature human-normal." The fingers shifted and the Doctor frowned. "Only one pulse. He's not me. He's all human."

"How does he recognise you, then?" she squeaked.

He shook his head. "I don't know."

"If I may?" Benton smiled. "Time Lords being Time Lords, personal paradoxes – meeting ourselves – is sometimes inevitable. Because we share so many of the same brainwaves, we can sense our own and know immediately if we're ahead of ourselves."

"He's right," the Doctor said.

"But if this happened to your third body," Donna said, waving at the observation window and the still form below, "why can't you remember-"

"Because it's a sanity-saving measure," the Doctor said. "While it's going on, it happens to both of us as if it's the first time. When it's over, I'll remember it from both points of view - because I'm latest in the chain - but my third self won't remember it at all beyond a 'I met my tenth self sometime in 1972' vagueness. And the memory will be totally lost when he regenerates again."

Their attention was drawn to the observation window, where Harry had raced in with the Brigadier. "What's going on there, then?" Donna asked.

"Brainwaves took another dip, it looks like," Benton said from her side. He and the Doctor flanked her. "They happen randomly, and it freaks them both out until they recover."

"How long does it take to recover?" the Doctor asked.

Benton shrugged. "Sometimes days. Sometimes minutes. But he always does recover." He smiled. "See? There they go, raising again."

"You said 'he'," the Doctor said. "Not 'me'."

"Oh, I'm Benton," he said firmly. "I just... have his memories sometimes." He worried his lower lip with his teeth. "And a good bit of his knowledge. Sometimes."

"A Time-Lord-human metacrisis?" Donna gasped. "You said I was the first!"

"You _were_ the first," the Doctor said, eyes narrowing as he looked at Benton. "He would be in agony, burning up, if that were the case. No, this isn't a metacrisis."

"What is it, then?" Donna murmured.

"I'm not completely sure," the Doctor breathed. "But I fear this is one of my oldest human friends having gone mad."

"Yes, we fear for that, as well," the Brigadier said. They had been so involved in their conversation, they hadn't noticed his entrance. "Doctor, the technicians have just reported a second TARDIS materialising near yours."

"A second TARDIS?" the Doctor and Benton chorused, turning to face the Brigadier.

"Do they know whose?" Benton asked.

Donna's eyes narrowed as she noticed the monitors showing another brainwave dip. A suspicion started to bloom in her gut.

The Brigadier was nodding. "Yes, actually. It's a blue police box. It's another you."

"Blimey, _really?"_ Benton asked, pushing out of the room at a run.

"Oh, this gets better and better," the Doctor said, moving to follow. "Coming, Donna?"

"Right behind you, Spaceman," she said, smirking as she followed them.

She couldn't wait to meet this one.


	4. And Two makes three!

The Doctor, Donna, Benton and the Brigadier walked back into the room where the TARDIS sat. Beside it, light still flashing as the last echoes of the asthmatic wheeze that were the engines running faded away, was its perfect twin.

"I wonder who it's going to be," the Doctor whispered to Donna.

She whispered back, "If it's the one before you, would blonde-and-perky be with him?"

He couldn't help but chuckle at her description of Rose. "Jealous?" he whispered back.

"Not no more," she told him. "Might be a little uncomfortable, but..."

She fell silent as the door creaked open. "About to find out," he whispered back.

"Well!" a male voice said and a young man with black hair and a kilt walked out. "We're indoors, at least!"

"It's Jamie," the Doctor whispered to Donna. "That means that's my second self."

"At least it's not raining, eh?" a merry voice answered and a small but solidly built older man with jet-black hair walked out behind Jamie.

"That's him?" Donna squeaked in a whisper. "That's you?"

"That's me," the Doctor whispered back.

"Cor!" she gasped. "What do you do, age in reverse? The older you get the younger you look?"

He just smiled at her.

The smaller Doctor suddenly noticed them. "AH!" he laughed, moving over and taking the Brigadier's hand in both of his, shaking it heartily. "Brigadier! Good to see you, old chap! And Benton!"

His hands moved from the Brigadier's to Benton's. But the second they closed over the beringed hand, all trace of glee faded from the smaller man's and brilliant cobalt eyes narrowed as the head tilted. "What happened?" he demanded.

"There was... an accident," Benton said.

"More than that, if I'm reading myself superimposed over you," the newcomer half-growled as he dropped the hand and turned to face the Doctor and Donna. "And if another me is here with his fetching Time Lady companion. You're ginger!"

"Yes, I'm ginger," the Doctor laughed.

"Haven't been ginger since I was two-hundred-and-fifty and I started going grey," the second Doctor said. "And I don't remember having a ginger Time Lady as a companion before I became me."

"I'm not the first," the Doctor said. "I'm eight regenerations later than you."

"Oh, dear," the second Doctor said, a hand clapping over his mouth. He turned back to Benton. "I'm going to go out on a limb here and assume that you're the reason behind this gathering of Doctors."

"No," Benton frowned. "Not that I know of..."

The Brigadier stepped forward. "I am. I sent out a distress call last night in the hopes that you could help yourself."

Benton bristled. "I don't need help!"

"Not _you,"_ the Brigadier roared. "The Doctor! The _real_ Doctor, the one who's lying in a coma in the medbay! Not a sergant who's gone mad and _thinks_ he's the Doctor!"

"Oh, he does more than think he is," the second Doctor said, and the Doctor nodded in agreement.

"What do you mean?" the Brigadier asked.

"Right now," the Doctor said, nodding toward Benton, "we can sense him. At this moment, that _is_ the Doctor. And I don't have any clue why."

"Or how," the second Doctor said. "I have a clue as to the why. As I said, he's been superimposed over Benton."

"Like a neural imprint," the Doctor breathed. "But there's no sign of direct tampering-"

"No, there isn't," the second Doctor agreed. "Which is why the how matters so much. Until we know the how, we can't fix them."

"Them?" Benton asked, frowning.

"Yes, them," the second Doctor snapped. "We'll fix both you and the dandy! Get everyone all sorted out!"

"There's nothing to sort out," Benton snapped. "This is irreversible! I'm in here, sometimes, and other times I'm in the coma! There's no way to fix this!"

"There has to be," the Doctor said.

"There isn't," Benton insisted.

"There is," the Doctor said, stepping forward, brown eyes blazing. "Because if we don't fix this, I never exist."


	5. Donna Notices

Donna's head snapped around, eyes huge. "WHAT?" she roared, stepping forward. "What the bloody HELL do you mean you don't exist? Of course you exist, I'm bloody TALKING to you!"

The Doctor shook his head. "Temporal mechanics-"

"-give me a bloody headache," Donna chorused with him, then said alone, "I know. Me, too. But we've got to figure this out before you do a Marty McFly and flick out of existence."

The Doctor chuckled. "It won't be as drastic as all that, but there is a limited window of time to get this sorted."

"And the worst of it," the second Doctor chirped, all clasped hands and patient professor act perfectly in place, "is that we're not exactly sure how large of a window that window is!"

Silent until now, Jamie spoke up. "So let's stop jaw-wagging and start figuring!"

Benton threw back his head in a howl of a laugh. "Damn, Jamie, I have missed you!"

Jamie snorted. "Don't miss you, barely even know you."

Donna clapped her hands. "Well, then! Before you get all hoity-toity about who missed what and what ever – I noticed something that might be important."

"Well?" the Doctor asked, amused at his "sister" despite everything. "Are you going to keep us in suspence?"

"Was planning on it," she teased. "No, seriously – when Benton here began to act like you – that you-" she pointed at the silver-haired man on the bed. "His brain scans went to zero. Ten to one when he starts acting like a Sergeant again the brain scans will come up."

As if on cue, the monitor beside the stricken Doctor began to sound and the indicators that monitored brain waves began a slow climb. At the same time, Benton swayed and took a deep, ragged breath.

The second Doctor – who was closest – took hold of his elbow. "Steady on, old chap! Feeling more like yourself now, hmmm?"

"Why does that keep happening?" Benton gasped, shaking his head and almost literally getting his feet back under him again, nodding at the second Doctor when he was steady, and the shorter man released him. "I mean, why in the world do I keep having this – thing – happening to me?"

"Why do you keep getting taken over, you mean?" Jamie asked. "That's what this is all about, isn't it? He -" Gesturing toward the man on the bed, "—keeps taking over Benton's mind and then letting him go again!"

"But why?" Benton asked. "The Doctor's never tried to harm me before. Ever! I can't understand why he is doing this now! What does he want?" He raked both hands through his dark hair. "I don't understand, Doctor ! I don't understand!"

The Doctor squeezed his shoulder. "You said there was an accident in the TARDIS."

"Yes," Benton replied.

"In your Doctor's TARDIS."

"Yes."

He turned to look at Donna. "In the same TARDIS we merged with."

Benton's eyes widened and he looked at the Doctor. "...yes."

Without another word, the Doctor bolted out of the infirmary. Jamie looked at his Doctor, who nodded, and Jamie pelted after him.

Donna turned back to the monitors, and swore as the brain wave indicators started to fall again. She turned to look at Benton.

Before her eyes, his posture and eyes changed – from fright to wisdom and pain beyond his years. "Hello again, Doctor," she said sadly.


	6. Jamie Recognises

The Doctor had just reached the combined TARDIS when he heard Jamie shout behind him, "I'm coming with you!"

He turned and shot him a glare. "No, you're not."

"My Doctor sent me to be with you, so I am!"

Breathing a curse under his breath that Donna would have recognised instantly, he unlocked the door and frowned as he stepped inside to the alarming sight of flaring red lights and the dull thrum of the cloister bell tolling.

"Alarm bell, then?" Jamie asked as he moved to the console and smoothly closed the door.

"Yeah," the Doctor said, studying the console. "Okay, Girl, let me know what happened." He keyed in a set of orders, and a series of papers suddenly spit out at Jamie's feet.

"Easy, there!" he barked. "Y'nearly cut my legs!"

"As I recall, I kept telling you to put on some trousers under that kilt," the Doctor said absently as he read. "To protect your legs."

Jamie snorted, grinning and shaking his head. "Now I know you're himself – you wouldn't have known that otherwise."

The Doctor looked up, frowning. "What, the protecting your legs?"

"The bit that you'd tell me to do it under the kilt instead of in place of the kilt." Jamie's grin grew.

"Of course, I know how much that means to you. I remember I'd harp on you protecting your bare legs, but I can't recall only two or three times telling you to change outta the kilt. You set me to rights very fast, as I recall!"

Jamie laughed, but it stopped when the laughter was joined by an ear-splitting whine. "What in the-"

"My TARDIS wrapping around this time's Doctor's TARDIS just made the problem worse!" The Doctor dropped the papers and reached inside his lapel, withdrawing his sonic screwdriver.

"What's that?" Jamie asked as the Doctor pointed it at the console.

Before the Doctor could even open his mouth, a part of the console exploded.


	7. Post-Explosion Problems and Abilities

The Doctor waved away the smoke and cleared his lungs with a cough as he took inventory of his physical condition.

The explosion had thrown him against a roundel'ed wall, where he was currently sitting. He was uninjured, but quite pinned down by a section of control column.

"Jamie!" he called. "Jamie, can you hear me?"

An explosion of Gaelic made him smile. "I take it from that blast of colourful language that you're all in one piece?"

"Aye, I'm unhurt," Jamie growled. "But I'm royally stuck!"

The Doctor licked his lips. "Okay, can you see the control panel from your angle?"

"Aye! A whole chunk of her is missing, and she's on fire!"

The Doctor frowned. On fire? The TARDIS wasn't on fire!

His eyes widened as he realised the explosion had blown the two TARDISes apart – and he was in his third self's roundel-walled TARDIS, while Jamie was in his. And his was burning. "Jamie, I'm going to send my sonic rolling your way!" He adjusted a setting on it. "Point it at the fire and press the yellow square. That will trigger the fire-suppression system."

"Why can't you?"

 _Because I'm in the wrong TARDIS._ "Because I can't see it where I'm at! Here it comes!" He took a deep breath and set the sonic screwdriver on the floor.

No matter where they were, the Doctor remembered that Jamie could pull a sandwich seemingly out of thin air. His second self had often wondered if Jamie hadn't been a very early example of what would come to be known as meta-humans – with his superhuman ability being the ability to bring whatever he needed at the moment to him. With his bottomless stomach, it was usually food. Now, the Doctor would test that theory. "Reach for it, Jamie!" he said as he set it to rolling.

He saw a familiar hand emerge from a roundel and grab the sonic, then draw it right through the wall. He began to smile as he leaned his head against the wall, eyes closed. "Good job, Jamie."

Trapped in different TARDISes, but able to communicate, the Doctor chuckled softly. Either the comm system was stuck on, or Jamie's ability was letting them communicate through their now relative dimensions.

If he had money to bet, he'd put it on the comm system being stuck on.

"Got it!" Jamie called. "Point what end?"

"The blue end – and press the yellow square!"

A long few seconds passed, then another explosion of Gaelic made the Doctor laugh. Neither TARDIS, it seemed, wished to translate Jamie's cursing. "Did she give you a dunking, then?"

"Aye," Jamie snarled. "And I'm still stuck fast! What now?"

"If you roll my sonic back to me, I'll see about calling for help." A moment later, the sonic rolled through the wall and straight into his hand. "Thank you!"

"Welcome!" Jamie called back.

The Doctor made a couple of adjustments and pointed the sonic at the TARDIS ceiling. "Donna – can you hear me?" He fell silent, waiting for a reply.

 _"Oi, Spaceman,"_ came the sweetest sound in the universe at that moment. _"Care to explain why there are suddenly three TARDISes parked here instead of two?"_

The Doctor chuckled, leaning hard against the wall. "We had a bit of an issue, Donna. What was wrong with my third self's TARDIS destabilised both of ours, since they were fused together."

Donna breathed a curse. _"Are you and Jamie all right?"_

"We are," her 'brother' was quick to assure her. "However, both of us are stuck under debris from the explosion and I'm afraid Jamie may be soaked to the gills from the fire-retardant system."

 _"Hello, Ginger Me,"_ the bright voice of his second self chirped. _"We are on our way. Which TARDIS are you in?"_

The Doctor took a breath, licking his lips. "I'm in the one that belongs in this time. Jamie is not."

He could almost hear his second self slamming on brakes and could quite easily see him screeching to a halt. _"You mean to tell me that you are in separate TARDISes?"_

"Yup." He couldn't resist popping the 'P'. "Blew apart by the blast and both stuck fast. So a little speed wouldn't be amiss, old chap!" He deliberately mimicked his third self's speech pattern.

Moments later, he heard the comforting hum of the doors opening and the Brigadier calling, "Doctor? ...bloody hell, looks like a bomb went off in here..."

 _"Something_ went off in here, that's for sure!" the Doctor called.

He heard footsteps, then the Brigadier's voice from just behind him. "I see where you're jammed in. Benton, if you'd be so kind..."

Benton – still dressed almost like his third self – came around and knelt in front of the Doctor. But the smile he gave him was Sergant Benton, through and through. "Donna, Doctor Harry and the small fellow are taking care of Jamie. She said she knows that machine better than we do and she'll find out what's wrong with her."

The Doctor chuckled. "That's Donna, all right!"

With the combined strength of his friends pulling the debris from the wall just a little bit, the Doctor gained enough leverage to shove his lanky legs out from underneath. He accepted the Brigadier's hand to get to his feet and winced as the debris fell back with a 'thunk' as they released it. "Oi, numb legs," he growled as he did a little dance to get the feeling back.

His friends chuckled a bit at his antics, then Benton sobered as the spark of alien intelligence slowly filled his eyes. "So!" he said, clapping his hands together. "What do you say we put our collective brains together and figure out what happened to the Old Girl so we can sort our collective selves out?"

Before the Doctor could reply, the comm chirped and Donna's voice interrupted, _"We've got him and we're headed your way. Doctor, it's time we start getting answers and the best shot we have lies inside that TARDIS."_

Benton grinned smugly as the Doctor shook his head, replying, "We know. We'll get started. See you in a few minutes."


	8. Finally! Some Answers!

The Doctor looked up and grinned to see Donna walking in alone. "He went with Jamie, then?"

"Should have seen him!" Donna chuckled. "Sodden to the skin!"

"Still swearing, I'll wager?"

"And the Girl still isn't translating," Donna said as she moved to the console. "I think the poor thing's scandalised!" When the Doctor stopped laughing, she asked, "What d'you want me to do?"

"Help me get this panel off." As they worked, the Doctor grunted softly, "I remember this jumble of a console. Stranded and jerry-rigged... never knew what was going to malfunction and what was going to work – kidnapped by the Time Lords to do their bidding when they needed an agent."

"Sounds like a miserable time," she said.

He shrugged. "It had its moments. Given the choice, I'd always prefer to be free. I've too much of the nomad inside me to be stuck in one place for long."

"You do realise you've just cursed us to be stranded somewhere," Donna cracked, and laughed at his glare.

The Brigadier cleared his throat, reminding the Time Lord and Lady they were not alone. "Have you found anything yet?"

"Patience, Brigadier, we've just started," the Doctor said. "It's been quite a few lives ago that I've had to work with one so near the original Type 40 specs..."

"Let's get to it, then," Donna said as they finally got that stubbourn panel off. Her nose wrinkled with distaste. "I think we might have found something."

The Doctor moved to join her and she looked up at him. "This girl can't fly," she whispered. "She's crippled."

He nodded. "The Time Lords banished me to this time period and place, to try to get across to me how interference was not warranted. As it turned out, it taught them that a few judiciously placed meddling Time Lords could do much more good than staying in our Gallifreyan towers."

Donna's face darkened. "...do you think that's what led to the War?"

The Doctor shook his head, pushing ginger spikes away from his forehead as he blew the air out of his cheeks. "There's really no way to tell. But my personal theory is that the War would have happened anyway. The Daleks hated our people that much."

"And it was mutual," Donna whispered.

The Doctor squeezed her hand, then looked at the console. "...what in the..."

"I know," she growled. "Looks like a booby trap."

"That's exactly what it is. Triggered when he reached a certain level of getting her ready to fly again..." He drew out his sonic. "Let's see if we can't at least make it less dangerous before the little hobo comes back in." He pointed it and it warbled.

The booby trap lit like a Christmas tree and began to spark.

Benton gasped, his hand flying to his head as his knees buckled.

The intercom flared to life with Doctor Sullivan's alarmed voice. _"Medical alert, medical alert! Doctors Noble to the infirmary! Doctors Noble to the infirmary!"_

Donna keyed the intercom. "Donna here, Harry, what is it?"

 _"It's the Doctor!"_ he gasped. _"He's seizing!"_


	9. The Trap Tightens

The Doctor grabbed the mic. "Doctor, did you hear that?"

 _"I most certainly did,"_ came the reply from his second form. _"I am going to deal with him, you keep up the work you've found! I... am assuming you have found something?"_

"We have," Donna said. "But we need one of you with the ill one. We've got Benton here and the Brigadier is helping us with him."

 _"Yes, that leaves you free to deal with... I'm assuming it's something that is ancient history for you but I don't know yet. Very well, I am going to the Infirmary. Keep me updated!"_

"Will do." She cut off the intercom and slapped her palms onto the control column. "Dammit! Seizing!"

The Doctor's jaw ticked and he re-adjusted the Sonic's settings.

The Brigadier looked up. "...Doctor, what are you doing?"

He nodded toward the console. "This booby trap is what's hurt my third self and Benton. This booby trap is what's keeping them the way they are. I have no choice but to disable it – and hopefully take care of them in the process!"

"You do," Donna growled at him. "You go scan Benton and let me work on the -"

"Donna," he interrupted. "You're a brand-new Time Lady-"

"And this trap is geared to you, personally!"

"Donna, I can't allow-"

A shrill whistle cut through the sibling-like bickering. Both ginger heads swiveled to the Brigadier, who was lowering his fingers from his mouth. "Right, then!" he barked. "Let's examine the facts here!"

The Doctor groaned. "Brigadier, we don't have-"

"—a moment to lose!" the Brigadier finished for him. "Which is exactly why we're doing this! Right!" He sighed. "There is a booby trap inside the console, geared directly to the Doctor's physiology, correct?"

"Correct," the Nobles said in unison, then smiled at each other despite the situation.

"Donna, you are a Time Lady, but your physiology is just different enough that the trap might recognise that you are not himself, correct?"

"Correct!" Donna said.

"Doctor, let her work. Come help me with Benton and let her work." The Doctor opened his mouth and the Brigadier held up his hand. "Ah!" he barked. "In this time, I am still your superior officer!"

The Doctor gritted his teeth and sighed. "Technically, no – but I don't have time to argue."

Donna clapped him on the shoulder and crouched down beside the console. She reached inside and allowed the heat of her hand to warm the wires beside the booby trap.

A needle shot out and penetrated her hand. She gasped and winced, but did not otherwise react.

"Donna?" the Doctor gasped. When she didn't answer, he cried louder, "Donna!"


	10. Explanations and conclusions

"Settle down, Spaceman," Donna gritted out. "I'm fine. It's not putting anything inside my body – it's reading my biorhythms."

They waited for a long few moments, then lights began to flare all over the console. Donna cried out in triumph and stood up, pulling a kerchief from her pocket and pressing it to the wound.

Slowly, the lights faded into a normal pattern and there was a distinct "clack" as the now-inert booby trap disengaged and fell to the ground.

Donna scooped it up while the Doctor and Benton ran to the console, checking systems one after the other. She carried the booby trap over to the Brigadier and held it up with a grin. "There we are. All sorted."

"How did you-" he gasped.

"It was keyed to the Doctor. To his specific brainwaves combined with a male physiology, since he has never regenerated female and probably never will. When it found Gallifreyan brainwaves that were slightly different than the Doctor's and a female physiology – it assumed the Time Lords had come for the Doctor, and there was no need for the trap to be sprung at all."

The Brigadier nodded slowly. "So what was it going to do?"

"Near as I could figure," Donna said slowly, "It already did it. It was to blow the Doctor's brainwaves away from his body and into the TARDIS console, then activate a protocol to notify the Time Lords so they could come get him."

The Doctor looked up. "But when it blew them away, Benton was in the TARDIS -'

"Touching me," Benton slowly said."Trying to shove me out of the way of the explosion. So _that's_ why my brainwaves overwrote his. He was the closest sentient thing, not the heart of the TARDIS."

The Brigadier's eyes went wide. "He was the _what?"_

Donna waved a hand. "Don't worry about it, Brigadier. The Old Girl loves the Doctor as much as we do."

With a snort, he shook his head. "Somehow, that makes me feel only marginally better."

Benton suddenly cried out, both hands going to his head as his knees buckled again. The Doctor caught him and eased him to the floor.

The Brigadier activated the communications. "Brigadier to Infirmary. Doctor Sullivan, how is the Doctor doing?"

 _"Hello, old chap!"_ the merry voice of the Doctor's second self replied. _"The seizures have eased and the medicine man is employing his bones and rattles-"_

 _"Oi!"_ Harry bellowed.

Donna laughed. "I like him!"

The second Doctor's voice returned, _"And his brainwaves are steadily rising. Further than before. What happened in there?"_

"It was booby trapped," the Doctor said. "And we took care of it."

 _"Right, then!"_ the second Doctor laughed. _"So we'll make certain everything is-"_ His voice abruptly cut off.

"Doctor?" the Brigadier snapped. "Doctor, what is it? Doctor?"

Through the comm came a voice Donna had never heard, but brought broad smiles to everyone else, including a very tired looking Benton.

 _"Next time, Sergeant...Let me take the face full of explosion."_

Benton chuckled. "Never gonna happen, Doc. Never gonna happen."

 **DOCTOR WHO FOREVER AU DOCTOR WHO**

Forty-eight hours later, the second Doctor and Jamie said their goodbyes. The Doctor and Donna both laughed softly as Jamie walked into the TARDIS munching on a sandwich.

They shared hugs and teasing goodbyes, and they stood side by side watching the third TARDIS fade into thin air. "Well," Donna grinned. "That was a strange feeling, seeing another you."

"Not done yet," the Doctor said as they walked into a second white-walled TARDIS. "Oi," he said gently. "How are you doing?"

"I'm good," the silver-haired third Doctor smiled at him. "I'm very good. I sincerely doubt I'll be sleeping much for weeks, however. I certainly got enough of it!" He licked his lips. "All joking aside – I owe you my thanks. If it wasn't for your having a Time Lady as an Associate-"

Donna shook her head. "Think nothing of it. We're just glad you're up on your feet again." She looked around. "Where's Benton?"

"The Brigadier's taken him home," the third Doctor said with a sigh. "Hopefully he's getting some sleep! Being me is exhausting when _I_ do it, I shudder to think of how he's feeling now!" He looked up at them. "The little fellow got away easy, I'm assuming."

Donna nodded. "I've left the console in the same shape it was in before the explosion – minus the booby trap. So, though you won't remember this well, you'll be safe from any more surprises."

The silver-haired Doctor looked over at her. "How can you be certain our people didn't leave more nasty surprises in there?"

The Doctor walked over and patted the console. "Because we checked it out. There was just the one. I suppose they figured it would be enough of a deterrent to permanently stop you."

His younger self shook his head. "They still haven't figured me out."

"Is it a comfort to know they never do?"

The Doctors shared a smile, then the younger one sighed. "I need to get some rest myself. It's been..."

"Yeah," the Doctor said, clapping him on the shoulder. "It's been."

Donna hugged the taller Doctor, then both gingers left his TARDIS and walked into their own. Donna's nose wrinkled. "What a mess!"

"Yeah, looks like we've got some work to do," the Doctor sighed. He moved to the console. "I'll get us taken off, then. We can do the repairs in the Vortex and I don't want to stick around here any longer than I have to."

As the engine noise faded to the background, Donna said, "You know – I could see traces of them in you. Underneath it all, it's clear you're the same person. The core of what makes you _you_ \- well, it's there in them."

The Doctor looked at her and grinned. "I don't know whether to be flattered or mildly insulted!"

"I'll give you insulted, you..." She shook her head. "Let's hurry and get this Girl fixed. We've still a holiday to plan!"

"Late sixties London!" he grinned. "I remember! Let's get to work, then!"

Back at UNIT, John Benton resumed his career as a soldier, with no visible ill effects of carrying the Doctor in his head for weeks. But there were moments that the Brigadier would catch, things that Benton himself seemed unaware of.

There would be a look in his eye, a turn of phrase, an understanding of scientific things that he didn't seem to have had before. Benton seemed totally unaware of these, at peace with himself.

But the Brigadier would wonder if he was well and truly all Benton again. And the Doctor was no help – unable to remember it had ever happened.

Sometimes, in the quiet of his home, the Brigadier would wonder if this was what the Doctor felt like dealing with human beings day in and day out – having knowledge they didn't possess and with no way of proving the knowledge was real.

It was enough to drive a man to drink.

END


End file.
